Believer
by jedirey
Summary: Takes place five years after RotS. Darth Vader is ordered by Darth Sidious to find an apprentice, someone young and impressionable. Young Zaira Brightstar is one day from her eighteenth birthday when her home planet is ravaged by the Empire, her whole life and everything she's ever known ripped out from underneath her.


Zaira Brightstar lives on Junus, a small, barren desert world with little to no animal or alien life, and the mostly peaceful humans who reside there live in a smattering of small cities across the planet. The city she lives in, Yarrin, could scarcely be called a city, it was more similar to a large village. In her village, there was little connection or knowledge to the events and status of the rest of the galaxy. All her people know is that the Republic and its peacekeepers, the Jedi, had been destroyed five years prior, and from the ashes, the Galactic Empire rose. Most of the planet's people were ignorant to the Empire's iron fist, and the destruction and death running rampant in the galaxy, but those who knew, and those who were still secretly loyal to the Republic, continue to wait for the day their humble little planet gets noticed, and their hidden Force-sensitives to get wiped out by the Emperor's second in command, Darth Vader. The parents of Force-sensitive children lead their lives in barely concealed hatred for the Empire, and fear for their little ones futures.

Zaira's mother and father knew her to be a powerful Force-sensitive from a very young age. First when she was merely a few months old and in the middle of a crying fit expected of an infant, the trinkets over her woven cradle began to rattle and swing violently, which didn't end until her mother rushed to pull her into her arms and soothe her. The second indication they received was two years later, when Zaira's mother's sister, an ex-Jedi, traveled to Junus to reconnect with the family she never knew. Zaira immediately sensed her aunt's presence as she approached their tiny, Pourstone-enforced house, and her father had to quickly pick Zaira up before she could thunder towards the door in excitement. Zaira could not stop gazing at the beautiful woman, who was a stark contrast to her and her mother, who both had dark brown hair and brown eyes, while she had sandy blond hair and clear grey eyes. Zaira's mother, like her, could not contain her excitement from seeing her long-lost older sister, and could not held back by her husband. Her mother started forward until she stood only arms-length from her kin. "Estelle?" she whispered. The woman stared back at her with worn, but soft eyes. "You are... Tallulah?" her aunt replied. It only took a few moments for them to slowly embrace. After her father introduced himself as Rhys, her aunt's gaze turned to her, and her eyes sparkled with something Zaira couldn't place. Later, while Zaira was playing with her toys on the living room floor, Estelle pulled her parents into the kitchen and spoke quietly with them. "She is already strong in the Force, you must be careful if you do not wish for her to be taken." Tallulah and Rhys turned to look at each other, and they knew she was right.

Sixteen years later, on the day before her eighteenth birthday, Zaira awoke to the sun's harsh rays casting orange and red blurs behind her eyelids. She sighed audibly and turned on her side, bunching her scratchy blankets under her chin. Ten minutes later she was up and dressed in her regular daytime attire: a loose tan poncho, breathable grey pants, tall brown boots, and a large grey sash across her chest. She quickly brushed her teeth using minimal water and pulled her long hair up into a high ponytail. She silently made her way to the front door, something she was used to, as one of her responsibilities was to go out before her parents woke and buy foods and ingredients from the market for dinner later that day. Before she can open the door though, she is struck with a sudden dread, and she turns to gaze around her dim house. She doesn't want to leave, she wants to run to her parents room and crawl into their bed like she did when she was a little girl and had nightmares about the black figure with the red sword coming to get her. Shivers race down her spine like lightning, but she forces them away as soon as they come. Before she can dwell any longer on the feelings twisting her gut, she's out the door and into the assault of the blazing sun. Even with the heat already causing the skin on her neck to become slick with sweat, her blood feels cold and the dread has turned to loss. "I'm being warned..." she murmured to herself. _But about what?_


End file.
